Panamanian ex-dictator Manuel Noriega arrives in France

Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama, has arrived in France to face
money laundering charges after being extradited from the United States.

Noriega, who was ousted in a US invasion in 1989, arrived at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport Tuesday morning, according to a judicial official. He came on a direct flight from Miami.

He will face a prosecutor to hear the French charges, and then see a judge in Paris who will determine whether he should be jailed pending an eventual trial, said Noriega’s lawyer Yves Leberquier.

Justice Ministry spokesman Guillaume Didier said Noriega could go on trial within two months.

On Monday, Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, signed a so-called surrender warrant for Noriega after a federal judge in Miami lifted a stay blocking the extradition last month.

French authorities claim Noriega laundered some $3 million in drug proceeds by purchasing luxury apartments in Paris. Noriega was convicted in absentia, but France agreed to give him a new trial if he was extradited.

Related Articles

Noriega, who finished his US prison sentence for drug trafficking two years ago, has remained in a Florida prison while fighting his extradition to France.

One of Noriega’s lawyers in the US said he had asked Mrs Clinton in a letter to reconsider sending him to Panama, which also has an outstanding request for the former dictator’s extradition. He was convicted in Panama in absentia and sentenced to 60 years in prison on charges of embezzlement, corruption and murdering opponents.

“Panama is terrified that he’ll return, even though all he would do is sit on his porch and play with his grandchildren,” lawyer Frank Rubino said. “He knows where the skeletons are buried.”

Juan Carlos Varela, Panama’s foreign minister, told reporters that the United States “made the sovereign decision to send him to France, and we respect that decision.”

He said: “That does not mean that Panama is not going to insist by legal and diplomatic means on having Noriega return to this country to serve the sentences handed down by Panamanian courts.”

Noriega was ousted as Panama’s leader and put on trial following a 1989 U.S. military invasion ordered by President George HW Bush. Noriega was brought to Miami and was convicted of drug racketeering and related charges in 1992.

Sandra Noriega, one of the former dictator’s three daughters, called Noriega’s extradition to France “a violation of his rights as a citizen, and a failing by the (Panamanian) government, which is supposed to protect its citizens.”

Federal judges and the U.S. Supreme Court turned away Noriega’s claims that the Geneva Conventions treaties regarding prisoners of war require him to be returned to Panama. Noriega was declared a POW after his 1992 drug conviction by a Miami federal judge.

Noriega, believed to be in his 70s, was Panama’s longtime intelligence chief before he took power in 1982. He had been considered a valued CIA asset for years, but as a ruler he joined forces with drug traffickers and was implicated in the death of a political opponent.